Crystal Ball
by Taylor Hayes
Summary: Not all psychics are annoying. And this one had something Dean and Sam need to hear.


CRYSTAL BALL

a/n I do not own the Winchesters (at least until I find a genie) or any other Supernatural characters, although Berry is a creation of mine. Likewise, I do not own the lyrics to the Styx song I quote. NOT a wincest story! i prefer them as awesome brothers who just care about each other a ton in a familial way. and i got the title from the song whose lyrics i use.

"I used to like to walk the straight and narrow line

I used to think that everything was fine

Sometimes I'd sit and gaze for days through sleepless dreams

All alone and trapped in time.

"Tell me where I'm going

Don't know where I've been

Won't you tell me?

And then tell me again."

-Styx

She watched the two move closer toward her, knowing she needed to talk to them. Knowing they would understand. Her third eye wide, she observed them and waited.

"Dude, you know we need to talk about this." Reaching out, the older brother grabbed the tall one's arm.

The younger one's face was petulant. "No, Dean, we don't."

Dean rolled his forest green eyes, pissed at his baby brother. "Sammy, we can't just keep ignoring this. We need to talk, for real, about this whole Michael's vessel, Lucifer's vessel shit. We can't keep circling this issue and pretending it's not the thing that we're secretly freaking out about."

Sam glared down at his overprotective brother. "Dean, get over it. We are not talking about this. Can't we just pretend, for a while, that it's just like it used to be? Back to being the good guys, saving random innocent people, kicking supernatural ass?"

"But there are things that you won't be able to deal with until you consider the possibilities." She watched both of them freeze as she spoke, watched their eyes travel over her.

Appreciation bloomed in two pairs of breathtaking eyes. Their gazes slid over soft curves swathed in a light blue peasant blouse and a pair of faded black skinny jeans. Rich red curls were caught up on her head beneath a vibrant green scarf. A gently beautiful face watched them calmly, a motherly smile curling her pouty lips and a kind look in her vibrant, tropical ocean eyes. Bare feet softly brushed the pavement as she took a step forward.

"Missouri called me and suggested I find you two." The boys both went still, muscles hard and eyes cautious. She continued as though she hadn't noticed, "She said I should talk to you. Ask what you need to know."

Dean frowned, arms hanging loosely ready at his sides. "Prove it."

"Prove what?

Now Sam chimed in, a similar wariness in his chocolate eyes. "Prove that Missouri is the one who sent you."

She nodded slowly. "I understand your precaution. It was Bobby who gave Sam the necklace you wear. And Sam who gave it to you. It was..." Her eyes blurred and she continued, "Christmas. He gave it to you for Christmas."

Eyes went wide in surprise, then they shared a measured glance. Something passed between them, and they turned to her. "All right, lady. We'll talk."

Nodding at Dean, she turned and moved gracefully through the door behind her. She didn't hear them, but she knew they were following. She led them up the twisting stairs to her apartment. Pushing the door open, she stepped into the sunlight that flowed into the rooms from the dozens of open windows. The brothers let their focus wander around the space, taking in the walls painted in pleasant bright colors, with protective symbols hidden here and there among the trinkets and paintings that hung on the walls. All the furniture was mismatched and comfortable. She gestured them into the kitchen, and could feel Dean controlling his laughter. A slightly twisted smile touched Sam's face. The knowing grin played on her lips as she moved piles of books off the chairs around the table and placed them on top of yet more books, which covered most of the available counter space. The tabletop was oddly clear, with a small green candle and a notebook filled with her loose handwriting laying on it.

"Please, sit. Ask your questions."

They followed her calm instructions, pulling up chairs. Dean dropped heavily into his, while Sam eased down, perching on the edge. Taking a seat across from them, flattening her hands on the table, she watched them watch her.

Finally, Dean leaned forward, "So, who the hell are you?"

"I'm Berry."

"As in Manilow?" Sam asked.

Dean turned and looked at his brother with horror. "You know how creepy that is that that's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

Her sweet laugh drew their attention back to her. "No, not Barry Manilow. You know the story of Rapunzel, I assume?"

Sam nodded, while Dean's eyebrows furrowed. Then a lusty smile crept out. "Wait. I'm pretty sure I saw that one too. Same company that did the Snow White one." Sam rolled his eyes and met her gaze, shrugging. He mouthed the word "porn" and Berry laughed.

"My mother had a craving while she was pregnant with me. They named me after it. My legal name is Raspberry Regis."

They both started chuckling, and she grinned in return. "The rest of the story is similar, in that my parents weren't able to keep me. So I was turned over to my grandmother's custody. And while she wasn't a witch, she also wasn't the greatest guardian."

The brothers considered this for a moment, then Sam asked what she knew he had been wondering. "How did you... find out that you can See?"

"I was eight. The neighbors had lost their dog, and I was helping to find it. My grandmother refused to let me keep any pets, so I loved their dog like it was my own. I was desperate to find him. So I focused, as hard as I could. And I suddenly knew exactly where to find the dog. From then on, it became simpler and easier to tune myself to reality. I don't necessarily see visions of the present. Instead I know things. I concentrate on an area or a person or an image, and I know ." She again looked up into those beautiful eyes the brothers had. "But I see pictures when I look into the past or the future."

Now, they were confused. Maybe a little shocked. "I thought seers could only See the present," Sam voiced his bewilderment.

"Normally, that's true. I think most of them aren't equipped, somehow, to handle foresight. Because it's not a single, unchanging future. The future possibilities are in a state of constant flux. Everything we do, every choice we make changes what could be. I have to sort through thousands of futures, to find the ones that have the greatest likelihood of occurring. And those are still not guaranteed. As for the past, it's like watching a movie through a pane of darkened glass. I only have a vague understanding of the circumstances that surround any given moment. I get hints. Nothing more." She let out a broken sigh.

Then her distant eyes focused again on the brothers. "Now, what would you like to know?"

Sam turned away and glared out the window. Dean sent his brother a look of annoyance, and she almost missed the flash of mixed guilt and love in his eyes. For a moment, the scope of the brothers' dependance and care for one another touched her mind with blinding brilliance. With an angry huff of breath, Dean answered her.

"What can you tell us about the whole shitty deal with the angels?"

She closed her eyes to better focus, letting her third eye expand and take in the world as it truly was, reality as it could be. Every sense sharpened, and shadows of life and death rushed past her eyes.

"I See many possibilities." Her voice was a dreamy, honeyed drawl, and her eyes flickered frantically behind their lids. Her focus tightened and the shadows remained. She delved into each, speaking what she saw.

"At this moment, these are the eight distinctions to take note of.

"First, I see a future where Michael and Lucifer are given possession of their vessels. They rage back and forth over the world, light and darkness blanketing the globe. Mere mortals are of no concern to these two beings who could be gods. Many humans are killed, and the planet is decimated by their great battle. Finally, they destroy each other, and the humanity who remain try to pick up their broken lives and survive on the wasted earth."

She knew the boys were reacting, were unconsciously moving closer to one another, knowing that protection lay in their brother's keep. But her entire soul was stretched out into the echoing expanse of time, and they were nothing to her, except her focus instrument.

"Second, I see Sam walking down the wrong back alley. A vampire ignores what he has felt brewing in the air and practically drains Sam, before turning him. What once was Sam is hungry, starving. But he knows that there is something he must return to. His steps take him back to the hotel, and he follows the sent of a man he once knew. Dean is searching, searching, searching, and then he finds Sam. And Sam runs towards him, and Dean is overjoyed and steps forward, arms outstretched. The thing that was Sam rushes into his brother's encircling hold, buries his pale face into a neck and bites, deep. Dean freezes in shock, and is drained before he can fight. Sam comes back to himself after he feeds, and cries tears of blood. He takes the lighter from Dean's pocket, finds a half-empty bottle of vodka, pours it over them both and lights them. Ashes mix and mingle and both are dead."

Turning her third eye forward, new images spiralled through her.

"Third, Sam is killed by a demon who hates Lucifer, and Sam will not return to life. Michael comes to Dean, sensing the weakness. Michael slips into his vessel, and Dean allows it, wishing for vengeance against the demons. Michael wins the war and light engulfs the world, and all the wicked die and the purest remain, living in peace and harmony under the iron grip of the archangels. And beneath Michael, slowly, Dean gives up. Until he exists only to dream of the past.

"Fourth, Lisa is killed. She leaves Ben for Dean to care for. You raise him, trying to protect him. Sam and Missouri and Bobby help. But the angels and the demons all want Ben. He is leverage in their eyes, to be used and abandoned. You make deals to protect him. Sam swears on his blood and life before the angels that he will not consent to becoming Lucifer's vessel. Dean agrees that, if the demons will leave Ben be, he will not send Ruby back to the Pit, from which she will return to this earth to continue the plans of Lucifer, Azazel and Lilith. You continue the hunts, but none dare to touch Ben and he is raised with the knowledge of a hunter, the skills, but no the experiences. His soul remains intact, unsullied, unbroken by the true understanding of the hunt. You fight the good fight, but take no part in the battles of the forces of Heaven and Hell. You survive when many do not and go on with your lives.

"Fifth, you leave this life altogether. You both turn your backs on being hunters, change your names, go out to Alaska. Bobby holds back, but eventually agrees to go as well. You all live normal lives. Bobby creates a tincture which you shoot into your veins. It stops Michael and Lucifer from being able to take you. But it is also a poison. Twenty years of life, regular in all ways, then you die together.

"Sixth, Sam becomes the vessel of Lucifer. Castiel and Bobby die, as they and Dean attempt to save Sam. Sam regains himself and drags Michael and Lucifer down into the pit with him. Dean goes back to Lisa and Ben. But that is not the end. Yet, I can see no more."

She opened her eyes and looked up at them. Their faces were closed, but she knew the pain and hope and despair twisting through them. They now knew the possibilities as she Saw them.

Then a dark light flashed in Dean's eyes and he growled at her, "You said there were eight. That was only six. What happens in the other two?"

A deep, cleansing breath and she returned back to the moment. "They are already past."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You have, in the moments of listening to me, made choices. Even if you are unaware of them, they have already begun to change the outcome. The future shifts with each move we make. All of these which I have perceived for you are still possible. Yet, you can make other choices, and what I Saw may never happen."

"Then why even tell us? Why share all of that?" Sam asked, a slight tone of loss in his voice, covered by confusion.

"Because you needed to know these possibilities. You need to make those choices, not allow them to be made for you. Similarly, I know I was meant to tell you this, so that you understand that the future is not definite. It is not written in the stars by the great goddess Fate. For all the angels and the demons swear by her, she does not exist. There is heritage, there is reality and there is free will. These are the things we have, as humans. Do not forget or forsake them."

Her third eye was open again. And all it Saw was two brothers. One tall and leanly strong, the other shorter and well-muscled. Long, waving brown hair, short, sharp gold hair. Eyes a dark brown, and eyes an amber green. Light and dark walked side-by-side away from her. They were not mated, but were still incomplete without each other. No matter how far apart they walked or lived, always, they would be one great whole.

The third eye slowly closed, the glory and grieving joy of the sight filling her and pushing her away, all at once.

fin.


End file.
